


heartbreaker

by whimky



Category: Six - Marlow/Moss
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, F/F, Murder, the non-con tag is from katherine's past
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-02
Updated: 2021-01-02
Packaged: 2021-03-12 03:55:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 6
Words: 3,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28504083
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whimky/pseuds/whimky
Summary: anna cliff is the undisputed heartbreaker of evelyn grace academy. while she's not at the top of the food chain (thanks to her loyalty to her childhood best friend, anne boleyn), she is moderately popular and conventionally attractive, and has a new boytoy each month.that is, until katherine howard shows up a few weeks after summer break ends. this new girl is clever and, daresay, beautiful. she quickly worms her way into anna's life and bets the notorious heartthrob that she could break her heart.anna, at best amused by this girl's antics, takes the bet──five pounds, which isn't much to anna. little does she know, in the end, this bet will have costed her much more than some loose change.
Relationships: Anne of Cleves/Katherine Howard
Comments: 1
Kudos: 9





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 〉contains murder, past sexual abuse & assault, and emotional abuse.

breaking hearts seemed like fun and games, but it wasn't. there were rules you had to follow. of course, anna was already mindful of them, reciting them like a prayer before she went to bed each night, but katherine, her best friend, anne's, cousin, didn't seem to notice.

"you gotta have fun. but baby when you're done, you gotta be the first to run," she warned playfully.

"oh, shut up. i'll bet you've never felt the thrill of seeing the tears in his eyes as he runs away from your dinner date," anna said, rolling her eyes. so maybe she put down others to feel as if she were the best. who are you, the coping mechanism police?

katherine just smiled. "what if i wager you a bet?" she asked, smirking. "i'll bet you i can break your heart in two months flat."

anna stared at her as she contemplated the bet. then her mouth twisted into a smirk to match katherine's own. "five pounds," she said. "if i cry, you win."

"hey, anna, didn't i tell you _specifically_ not to fall in love with kitty?" anne asked, staring at her phone and sipping cold lemonade from a plastic cup.

"chill, anne, it's just a bet," anna replied, rolling her eyes. "when has a relationship - or even _feelings_ , at that - ever started on a bet?"

anne looked like she was about to say something, but anna redirected her attention back to her (admittedly cute) cousin before she could respond.

"five pounds, then. what's my deadline?"

"um... october 31st. halloween," anna decided.

"hey, that's less than two months!" protested katherine.

"well, if you're such a great heartbreaker, you could do it in one!" retorted anna. that shut katherine up, for a few seconds, at least.

"y'know, what? i can do it in _half_ that," katherine decided, slamming a fist on the table.

"september 30th, it is, then," anna declared, smiling smugly. even though she was the one whose heart was meant to be broken, shattered, and stomped on for the sake of the bet, she felt somewhat excited to see how this would play out. plus, katherine's spontaneous behaviour already seemed a million more fun than anne. sure, anna loved her beat friend of eight years, but same-old, same-old, y'know?

"one of you is gonna regret this," anne said. "still deciding who, though." with that, she stood up from the table and went to throw her cup away.

back then, on an ordinary september afternoon, anna couldn't identify why anne's joking words made her stomach twinge the way they did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is so short and for what


	2. Chapter 2

_just don't get attached to somebody you could lose,_ anna warned herself, that phrase running circles in her mind like stars around the heads of all her favourite anime characters.

but as she stared at the girl sitting across the table from her, it was incredibly hard not to fall deeper into the abyss of love she had already started digging for herself. distantly, she remembered anne's joking words and the fact that this was all a bet, but she frankly couldn't gather up enough cognitive thought to care. anne was in the restroom, anyways.

you see, anna may have had a million flings a minute (the latest by the name of henry tudor, again), but she hadn't ever _felt_ this way, not since nicholas, at least. and she wanted to believe that the reason she felt so lost whenever she was with kitty was because she hadn't realized she still had the ability to fall in love after such a great fall from euphoria. it was like the roman empire, and it was never resurrected after its infamous fail.

it wasn't because she hadn't realized she'd ever had the ability to fall in love with a girl in the first place, no, not at all. she didn't have the energy to work out such intricacies as her sexuality. that, too she pinned on nicholas francis, on _heartbreak_. because it was easier.

"so let me tell you," katherine said, grinning brightly and with a melodic lilt in her thin voice, "this is how to be a heartbreaker."

anne gasped in indignance. "how dare you? i am but a rosy-cheeked maiden in my youth, but a dangerous one at that- ask the boys who've dared to cross me!" she exclaimed in a phony archaic accent, attempting to sound as if she were a 16th-century damsel. she had no idea if it was working.

"you need some pointers," decided kitty after sizing her up, as if estimating her worth in the market, deciding if she should sponsor her from safe at home in district 2.

"yeah, sure," she said, "they just call me the heartbreaker of the school for no reason."

"trust me, anna. i've lost enough times to learn to win at love." there was something so sincere and vulnerable in the wide set of kitty's eyes in that moment that made anna want to melt, to become puddy in her grip because she seemed so trustworthy and kind. (even though it was all an act; anna knew this, she remembered it painstakingly every second of every day, but she chose to ignore it because they _had_ something. something that couldn't be faked for any bet.)

that night, they went to anna's, and spent the evening laughing and talking as anna tried to ignore the familiar unease in her stomach.

it's a shame breaking hearts doesn't save you from having your own stopped dead in its tracks, where perhaps it was destined for greatness- great things dying slow, roses slowly losing their shine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 504 words


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 〉tw: slight flashback to sexual assault.

sure, katherine knew it was wrong. but mannox knew it was wrong, and he went through with it, his hands forever ghosting across her skin only when dark shadows cast shadows everywhere but her terrified, naïve eyes, wide as saucers. fingers pulling on her hair when it was really just the breeze.

and yet she still felt guilty. still felt guilty for how much she wanted to _own_ anna. wanted no one else to ever come near her, wanted to protect her, her, her. if anna was hers, no one could ever hurt her, and no one could ever hurt anna (right?). it was a win-win.

her smile was intoxicating. she didn't know it, but god, it was true. the way she laughed- no, it was a bark- with the unforgiving politeness she held so carefully in her hands, always dancing on the knifes' edge of crassness, of dignity. but never crossing the line.

unlike mannox, and definitely unlike katherine.

it all started with a conversation. a simple one. it was morningtime, and katherine was over at anna's. the latter grabbed a cup of coffee, steaming in the chilly kitchen. (or maybe katherine just felt cold because she was so _dirty_ , and she needed someone on top of her to make her feel warm and complete, didn't she?)

anna wasn't concerned by the panic katherine was feeling. no, she was concerned by katherine's words.

words were so powerful, like shadows in the night. making up the world for just a little while, slipping through the cracks _every single time._

"about last night..." anna began, placing the coffee on the formica counter.

katherine shut her eyes tight. she didn't want to think about it, about anything. didn't want to give mannox the satisfaction of telling his story on her tongue. didn't think she deserved the satisfaction of finally being free from the weight on her shoulders.

"kitty, did anyone ever... force you to do... things?" anna asked in a tentative voice, and katherine cringed.

not because she didn't want to face it. she really did, she wanted this constricting weight off her chest. but it was just the way anna phrased it- such a delicate way to describe such a terrible experience, that made you want to claw your own skin off and pull your hair from your scalp.

but she couldn't speak.

_make a sound and i'll hurt you. make a sound and i'll tell them how much of a fake attention whore you are. make a sound and i'll **kill** you._

she didn't notice the tears. they felt like hands. all over her, even in the places he hadn't touched. "he didn't love me," she said, beginning with the positive, "and it wasn't a big deal." maybe it should've stayed that way, with her not a big deal. not worth anything in anyone's life, so she couldn't taint them, couldn't ruin anything ever again. that was the mistake she'd made with anna.

katherine loved anna. it was easy to admit that in the safe space of her own mind. but she also wanted out. that? not so much. this had only happened in the first place so katherine could prove anna wrong; she could break hearts, just as well as she could! but now...

anna seemed speechless. then she embraced katherine silently, a vow that she'd never leave no matter how much katherine flinched at her touch, because she'd always melt into the hug and calm down.

until one time she wasn't able to calm down.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and the formica counter strikes again 😕‼️  
> (588 words)


	4. Chapter 4

anna was grinning ear-to-ear, the kind of smile spawned only from complete joy, elation, gayness, euphoria - it didn't matter what it was called to her; a rose by any other name would smell as sweet, after all.

yet there are no roses without thorns, no matter how skilfull your flower was at weaving her words, lies sweet as honey dripping from every word.

almost like katherine's voice. she was speaking now, but it felt a million miles away to anna. focusing herself on the present and not the overflowing ocean of words in her mind she'd never write down (too weak, too vulnerable), she quickened her pace as she realized her girlfriend was walking faster along the sidewalk. when she reached kitty's side, she was yammering along to not anna but seemingly herself, although she jumped at company by her shoulder.

"y'know," anna began, "you're past your deadline for the bet."

grasping for something to say, kitty seemed to take a seat on the first horse that came riding her way. "well, you know what they say," she said with a confident air about her, "wear your heart on your cheek. but never on your sleeve, unless you wanna taste defeat."

kitty's instructions were usually vague and borderline manic, but this was really cryptic, even for her.

the two were headed toward the place it all went down in an epic crescendo- kitty's place.

but they didn't know that. not even anna, no matter how many times she'd jokingly wished for some jd to come kill her classmates so maybe her life wouldn't be so boring.

"kitty, i love you-," she tensed up at that and anna cursed herself- "but that made approximately zero sense," anna trailed off, hoping kitty could detect the joke in her voice, not wanting to grind the petals of her perfect little rose into the ground.

luckily, kitty's shoulders dropped in relief and she laughed. it was a refined laugh, which didn't fit her cunning determination nor her seemingly ambitious manner, although it did match quite well with her small, feminine frame and her wide, nubile eyes. for a fleeting second, anna wondered how anyone could hurt her. but then guilt washed over her because of course kitty was strong enough to handle herself. anna was the one who couldn't.

that was what she had learned over the past two weeks. with nicholas, she'd never learned anything but heartbreak- but now, with kitty, it was different, it was so, _so_ different, but not _bad_ different, right?

and inside, anna knew she had cried over katherine many times. cried because she was falling in love with kitty, who only cared about her for the sake of five pounds. five pounds - was that all anna was worth to kitty? all her emotions, which she'd put on the line for _her_ , all for her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i still have no idea what that 'heart on ur cheek' line was meant to be abt 😁🙏  
> (478 words)


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ⟩ tw: vomiting.

it was in the way she flinched at a hug from anne, or hesitated along every step of the way with anna. that fearful way she'd nod meekly when asked a yes-or-no question.

katherine howard was a broken porcelain dish, constantly dropped on the ground by clumsy men, turning to an amatuer souvenir collector to be shattered one last time and put on a shelf. too bad anna forged personal connections too easily, a quick test time ending up with a lousy score (that would probably ruin her life).

just the shattered way kitty talked, in fragments of sentences like each word were a shard of glass chopping her up from the inside out on their way up her throat. like every single thing she said was a struggle because she had no idea if it would be her unraveling.

today, kitty was presenting in english on narrative. anna wasn't paying attention, but she half figured that the girl ought to have gotten a zero. she looked like she was struggling to speak each syllable, giving full stops where there should have been commas. no, instead of on her atrocious exhibition, anna was taking in kitty's form like she was the last pig on the planet and anna had been starving for weeks.

when kitty sat down, she sent her girlfriend a look just as ravenous that made anna's stomach flip in on itself, but not like nicholas had made her feel. this was... _different_. it almost felt like it had when kitty had explained her fourth, final rule to her.

_"rule number four: gotta be lookin' pure: kiss 'im goodbye at the door. it'll leave 'em wantin' more."_

the memory of kitty's eyes scanning her like she was prey made anna shiver, and she turned back to the front of the room, where anne was just launching into a lecture.

anna had almost forgotten about anne. was that a bad thing? i mean, they had been friends since grade school and all.

but then she waved the doubts away. with nicholas, she saw anne each and every day. surely it wasn't anna's fault, nor katherine's for that matter, that she had little time for her immature friend?

her stomach, still doing flips on itself, disagreed with her on that point, and, since she felt like she was about to vomit, she reached her hand into the air.

"yes, anna?"

"may i go to the bathroom?"

"yes, anna."

anna got up and walked out the door. she rushed down the hallway to the nearest girl's restroom, and ducked inside. instead of the trash can, she went to the furthest stall from the door, closed it behind her, and leaned over the toilet.

bile rose in her throat. it was hot, like lava bursting through a volcano, destroying pompeii and ravaging much of washington state. she imagined it left burn scars down the sides of her throat as it traveled past. as she kneeled there, in a school bathroom, vomiting into a toilet, she figured the situation ought to be more dire than this for her to be sick.

and oh, boy, it was about to be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 528 words


	6. rule number four

everyone cared about the heartbreaker of evelyn grace academy now that she was dead. dead, _dead_ , _**dead.**_

the word sent shivers down katherine's spine, made the hair on the back of her neck snap to attention, turned her pale knees to muck in the ocean.

she stared down into the blank, expressionless eyes of her deceased girlfriend, her rival, her confidante. it was the end of an era for this powerless pair, and all katherine could do was lock eyes with anna's own dead ones, which were staring up at the ceiling of the presbytery.

it was an open casket. the turn-out was great. the death was ruled a suicide (fake suicides, wouldn't anna have something to say about that). everyone was talking, talking too loudly- louder than _quando m'en vo soletta._

katherine wished they had found the real murderer. whoever they were, they deserved to be imprisoned.

the memory was vivid in her mind, fresh as a newly picked strawberry.

\---

_all she saw was red. her mouth tasted of metallic. if she had been even near the planet where cognitive thought resided, she would've put two and two together. her vision was drowning in tears, and soon so was she, her throat closing up. kitty looked around. she didn't know what to do. she didn't know anything. all she knew was that she wasn't safe._

_not here, with anna. the words had been lies, they were all lies, she needed out, she needed away._

_at least if it ended like this, it would be neat. it would be a perfect conclusion a bow tied simply on a present. a gift to who, katherine didn't know. all she knew was that this would be her fault, 'cause it was always her fault._

_anger surged through her. anger at herself, anger at henry, anger at francis, anger at anna, anger at everyone. she held her father's rifle in her hand. when had it gotten there? she didn't know. she didn't know anything. all she knew was that there was one way to let out her anger, and she needed to let it out right now because it was a cage around her and unlike maya angelou, kitty wasn't a mockingbird who could sing while imprisoned. only out._

_it all happened so fast. anna looked terrified, more petrified than kitty could ever be (even if she tried, she hadn't been through anything in comparison to anna and this was proof). the silence was the loudest part, the way anna cliff, normally so loud, fell hushed._

_and it was kitty's fault. it always was._

\---

whoever she was, she deserved to be imprisoned.

"i'm so, so, sorry," she whispered hoarsely. no one paid her any mind.

she regretted it so much.

or at least she thought she did.

because this wasn't a poetic ending, nothing ever was. katherine could only know too much, anna could only live too long, anne could only grieve too heavily.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> just. gonna. leave this here... k howard stans don't come 4 me it's a fanfic❗️  
> (492 words)


End file.
